VETERANS DISABILITY BENEFITS

SERVICE-CONNECTED DISABILITIES

Two major disability benefits programs are offered to qualifying veterans by the Department of Veterans Affairs. The largest is called service-connected disability compensation. Successfully establishing a claim for this program is the focus of Dr. Allen Hassan's new book, The Ghosts of War: The Medical Doctor's Guide to Service-Related Disability Letters That Work.

Veterans have a right to an independent medical examination for service-related disability, and the examiner may submit an evaluation to the VA.

There are three qualifications for the service-connected compensation program. The first is a discharge or release from military service under anything but dishonorable conditions. Secondly, the veteran must establish that the disease or injury which is the basis of the claim was incurred or aggravated in the line of duty; the line of duty is typically defined as any time when the individual was enlisted in the military. The third condition is that the disability is not a result of the veteran’s own willful misconduct, or abuse of alcohol or drugs.

Disability benefits are rated in increments of 10 percent, each of which entitles the veteran to a monthly payment of $115 at this writing. Benefits go up in increments of 10 percent to 100 percent disability which currently pays $2,471 a month. In the case of certain very severe disabilities, in which the veteran needs daily health care services or regular aid and attendance, the veteran may be entitled to payments greater than 100 percent. If the veteran has dependent family members and a disability which is rated more than 30 percent, he or she is entitled to receive additional compensation.

Service-connected disability compensation is not means tested. In other words, the amount of money received by the veteran from pensions or Social Security does not factor into the amount of the award.

The Veterans Administration also pays dependency and indemnity compensation to dependent spouses, children and parents of veterans whose deaths were caused by service-connected conditions.